Whip-button



UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES E. WILLIAMS, OF WVESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

WHIP-BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,166, dated November 15, 1887.

Application filed September 1, 1887. Serial No. 248,434. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. WILLIAMs,

of Westfield, in the county of Hampden and Com mon wealth of Massachusetts, have invented anew and useful Improvementin WVhip Buttons, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

My invention relates to what are known as mold-buttonsthatis to say, buttons which are formed by making a mold upon the whip, which mold after being given the desired conformation receives a covering of braided thread, or has its outer surface otherwise suitably ornamented to correspond with the general finish of the whip.

Heretofore it has been customary to form these molds by winding wicking about the whip in superposed layers until a mold of the desired width and thickness is produced, the several layers being secured to each other and to the Whip by means of glue or other adhesive substance, and then reducing said mold to the desired conformation by knurling or by pressure. The mold thus formed is then usually covered by manually braiding thread over its surface, although for some cheaper grades of whips the thread covering is omitted. Buttons thusmade are expensive, because of the skilled labor required and the time consumed in their manufacture. A more serious objection, however, to this style of button lies in the fact that, whether covered with thread or not, as soon as the outer surface becomes slightly worn it presents a frayed and ragged appear ance and greatly impairs the general appearance of the whip. Again, although usually coated with shellac to render themimpervious to water, after a short use this coating is worn off, and the moisture,penetrating i nto the mold, softens the glue which holds it together and causes it to lose its shape, if it does not unwind altogether.

The object of my invention is to provide a button which can be quickly and cheaply formed upon a whip, the mold for which need not be knurled or otherwise pressed into the conformation of the finished button, which will be entirely water-proof, and which will retain its shape and appearance during the entire life of the whip.

To these ends myinvention consists in a button composed of a mold covered with soft rubber, as hereinafter fully describcd,and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which like letters designate like parts in the several figures, Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion ofa whip having molds formed thereon in accordance with my invention. side view of the rubber covering for one of the molds shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the covering for the other of said molds. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig.1, showing said coverings applied to the molds to form the completed buttons.

The letter Adesignates a portion ofthe buttend ofa whip, having an ordinary nailhead at the end.

B B designate two molds formed upon the whip, which, as to position and size, are shown for the purpose of illustration merely, and could .belocated wherever desired upon the whip and varied in size. at will. These molds may be composed of wicking or other textile material, like those above referred to; but I prefer to use paper, because of its cheapness and because when wound closely about the whip it forms a hard unyielding mold. They can thus be quickly formed by winding a strip of paper about the whip until the mold is of the desired thickness and securing the end by means of glue or in any convenient manner to the body of the mold. Molds tapering from the center toward theends,likeoneoftheexamplesshown, can also be readily formed by using a strip of paper tapering to a point at one end and be ginning to wind at the wide end thereof.

The letters 0 O designate tubes of soft rubber, which form the covering for the molds B and complete the button. These tubes are of sufliciently less diameter than the molds to cause them to tightly embrace the latter when placed thereover, as shown in Fig.4. As shown, the tubes terminate at each end in beads c, and the tube 0 is furthermore provided with two intermediate beads or ribs, 0,- but said beads and ribs are for ornamentation merely, and it will be understood that they may be omitted altogether or increased in number to suit the taste of the user. The tubes are applied to the molds by being expanded sufficiently to enable Fig. 2isa them to be placed upon the latter and then allowed to contract, or they can be very quickly applied by slightly lubricating the surface of the whip with soap or other harmless lubricant, and then sliding them upon the whip from the tip toward the butt and upon the molds.

The tubes not only assume the exact shape of the molds when the latter are made with their surface in a regular curve, as shown in the drawings, but their elasticity causes them to assume a true curve lengthwise of the whip even when the molds have square sides and flat faces, and it is therefore unnecessary to ex ercise care in the formation of the molds further than to make them ofthe proper thickness. A great saving in time and skilled labor is thus effected, in addition to the cheapness of the material which may be employed for themolds.

The tubes may be manufactured in ditlerent colors to correspond with the various styles of whips, or may be externally colored after being placed upon the whip, and may have any de sired ornamentation upon their exterior surface. They closely embrace the whip at each end of the mold and prevent moisture from penetrating to the latter, so that a paper mold can be used without danger of being impaired from such source, and an absolutely waterproof mold-button is secured.

Ashereinbe'fore stated, I do not wish to limit myself to the particular shape or size of buttons herein shown, nor to their location upon the whip, as various modifications in these particulars can be made within the spirit of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A whip-button consisting of a mold of textile or other similar material having an outer covering composed of a soft-ru bber tube, substantially as described.

2. A whip having one or more molds, B, thereon, each of said molds being covered by a soft-rubber tube, 0 or 0, having exterior beads c thereon, substantially as shown and described.

CHARLES E. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

W. H. CHAPMAN, T. M. BROWN. 

